Bafana face ‘good test’
Igesund says beating Algeria will start momentum
THE Bafana defence is not leaking. The national team has an array of quality players to win the Africa Cup of Nations. And most importantly, according to coach Gordon Igesund, scoring is not a problem.
Bafana face their toughest opposition since intense preparations for the Nations Cup began late last month, with the coach declaring: “If we can beat Algeria, we can beat anybody.”
Orlando Stadium is the venue for tonight’s friendly international against a country ranked second in Africa. And Igesund might just be on to something by saying Bafana could very well be unbeatable if they can get a victory in their final practice match.
“Algeria is a good test. And we want to get the momentum started in this game. If we win the supporters can get behind us. And perhaps if we beat Algeria we can beat anybody,” said a confident Igesund.
The desire to win indicates the coach might just throw his best players onto the pitch. But that is not the plan. He is still going to be cautious, avoiding injuries before the big opener against Cape Verde at Soccer City a week from today.
“It’s a catch-22 situation. You don’t want your opposition to figure you out days before the tournament. You don’t want them to see your weakness, what your leftback does or doesn’t do,” Igesund said.
The coach, a four-time Premier League winner all with different clubs, believes Bafana are yet to garner support from everyone. And the 1-0 defeat to Norway in Cape Town on Tuesday didn’t help at all.
“People are judging us on what they have seen so far and it’s not nearly what I think we will do. Poland and Brazil battled to beat us away from home and they won’t be in this tournament so that gives me hope,” the coach explains.
“The goals we conceded were late in the game because we had lost shape after making six substitutions.”
Igesund has been preaching “belief and confidence” to his players ahead of the crucial opener. But on the evidence of the clash against Norway, there’s still much work to be done and the coach almost admits this.
“Finishing is not a problem. On any other day we could have scored six goals against Norway. We were a little bit unlucky,” Igesund said.
“If we keep saying we can’t do it, then the players will stop believing they can do it. Time will tell.”
Lastly he pleads for supporters to stop booing striker Katlego Mphela.
“We’ve been working on a lot of things in training and that is why he only played for 45 minutes. But he doesn’t have enough support from the fans,” the coach said.
“When they start booing, the player starts hiding. He is not thinking about scoring, he is thinking about not missing. Mphela is the third top scorer for Bafana of all time.”